Scientists Once Calculated the Date of Doomsday—and It’s Next Month

In 1960, Science, one of the world’s leading science journals, published an article with an unambiguous title: Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026. It predicted that on this future date—not too long from today—the human population would approach infinity and effectively annihilate itself.

The outlandishness of the claim landed the article widespread public attention. More surprisingly—because its underlying research and math seemed sound—it also received careful and sustained scientific attention.

The authors—Heinz von Foerster, an Austrian-American professor and cybernetics expert…